FIR against Shiv Nadar University, parent statement fail to match

The FIR states that the woman told her parents about the alleged harassment she faced from the male student, who shot her dead. But the father, while speaking to HT on Thursday, had maintained that he was never aware of the situation

A day after an FIR was registered against the administration of Shiv Nadar University and four others in connection with the murder of a 21-year-old woman student on the varsity campus on May 17, discrepancies in the woman’s father’s complaint and his statement in the FIR have come to the fore.

The woman student was shot dead by her male classmate on May 17. (HT Photo)

The FIR states that the woman told her parents about the alleged harassment she faced from the male student, who shot her dead. But the father, while speaking to HT on Thursday, had maintained that he was never aware of the situation.

On the afternoon of May 17, after shooting dead the woman student near the dining hall of the university, her male classmate ran back to the hostel and shot himself dead, police said. Both were students of third year BA Sociology.

On Thursday, the Gautam Budh Nagar police registered an FIR against the deceased student, a varsity staffer, a photographer, a Kanpur-based man and the university administration under sections 302 (murder), 354D (stalking) and 120b (criminal conspiracy) of the Indian Penal Code at the Dadri police station. The three other people named in the FIR were mentioned by the deceased male student in a 22-minute long video he had emailed to the student council of the university before killing himself.

In the FIR, registered on the woman’s father complaint, it was mentioned that after being informed by his daughter about her classmate harassing her, the father had raised the matter with the university officials.

“For the past several days, the male student was harassing her. In this regard, when she complained to me, I asked the university administration to take action against the student, but the administration did not take proper action till date,” states the father’s complaint copy in the FIR.

It further states, “A video by the male student has been put on social media where he mentions names of a university staffer, a Kanpur-based man, and a photographer. He shared this video with only some of the students and the varsity administrators. It is clear from this fact that my daughter has been murdered under conspiracy, as the university did not take serious and effective steps on time. Hence, I request the police to take strict action against the guilty.”

But the woman’s father on Friday said the statement in the FIR was not correct and that the complaint statement in the FIR came about “due to a miscommunication”. He said his daughter never informed him about the situation and had he known about it, he would have brought her back home to Kanpur.

“Our daughter never told us about the whole situation. Had I known that a man was harassing her, I would have immediately taken steps to protect her. There was a miscommunication when the complaint was submitted to the police because of which there are some conflicting details,” said the father.

Earlier, in an email sent to the university administration, the woman had alleged that she was being harassed by the male student, and requested the administration to take steps to help her. She also wrote that she did not want her family to know about the situation.

Sujeet Upadhyay, station house officer of Dadri police station, said, “The FIR was registered as per the written complaint submitted by the family of the woman. We are not aware of any discrepancies.”

When asked whether the university till date had received any complaint from the father or the family of the deceased woman regarding harassment by a fellow classmate, a university spokesperson said, “The university and its officials have not received any complaint from any family member on this matter.”